Podcast: Reddit IPO, WBD’s profitable streaming and declining transparency in agency-client relationships

The Media Leader Podcast

Host Jack Benjamin welcomes columnist Nick Manning and reporter Ella Sagar to examine Warner Bros Discovery’s latest earnings, Reddit’s forthcoming IPO and why agency-client relationships at holding companies have become less transparent over time.

On digital publishers making cuts and lay-offs, Nick Manning said: “One thing that is a shame for all of us is that content costs money and good content costs even more money. And those companies who get the most advertising revenue are the ones that do not have any cost of content at all because it is all user-generated.

“The big issue, for me, is how the advertising money is gravitating towards those with the lowest content costs.”

The trio also discuss the decline of Vice Media, Walmart’s purchase of Vizio and a leadership change at Global.

Listen below or hit “subscribe” to play the episode on your choice of podcast player:

Highlights

00:41: The “unhealthy trend” of principal-based trading

04:05: What’s the solution for declining transparency in media buying?

11:47: Warner Bros Discovery’s “big mixed bag” of earnings

20:18: Why is Reddit going public now?

24:05: The “enshittification” and business prospects of social media platforms

30:54: Quick hits — Vice.com ceasing publishing, Walmart purchasing smart TV maker Vizio and Stephen Miron leaving Global

The Media Leader Podcast is a twice weekly show in which our journalists interview some of the most influential people in advertising and media, as well as the next generation of future leaders and rising stars. We also review the biggest stories in media and discuss our featured columnists’ latest opinion pieces.